Newspaper vending machine



S. LESCHIN NEWSPAPER VENDING MACHINE Abril 25, 1950 Filed Feb. 2,' 19454 Shegts-Sheet 1 0 wmou 232cm NM MEI INVENTOR Samuel Leschzin A ORNEY S.LESCHIN NEWSPAPER VENDING MACHINE April 25, 1950 r 4 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Feb. 2, 1945 INVENTOR Samuel fiesckz'w BY 6 H ATTORNEY April 25,1950 s. LI-ESCHIN 2,504,990

NEWSPAPER VENDING MACHINE Filed Feb. 2, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR68 fiamael fiesckzin,

/ BY g TORNEY April 25, 1950 v s. LESCHIN 2,504,999

NEWSPAPER VENDING MACHINE Filed Feb. 2, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 32 I v eYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII/ Y I l l l lllllll-lllllk INVENTORfiamzzezfiescka'm BYW E Q 2 AT RNEY Patented Apr. 25, 1950- NEWSPAPERVENDING MACHINE Samuel Leschin, New York' N. Y., assignor toInternational Vending Machine Corporation, New York, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application February 2, 1945, Serial No 575,746

2 Claims.

This invention relates generally to an apparatus for dispensingnewspapers and. the like, and more particularly to a dispensingapparatus whose operation is coin controlled.

One of the objects of my invention is an improved arrangement wherebythe insertion of a proper coin and the operation of a control lever willeject a newspaper and also return one or more smaller coins whichrepresents the difference between the price of the paper and value ofthe inserted coin.

Another object of the invention is an improved arrangement whereby theinserted coin will be returned when the reservoir is empty.

One of the features of the invention is an arrangement which functionsuniformly regardless of the number of papers contained in the machine.

The general object of my invention is the provision of a simple andefficient arrangement for vending newspapers.

For the attainment of these objects and such several other objects asmay hereinafter appear or be pointed out, I have illustrated anembodiment of my invention in the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the disclosed embodiment;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on line 22 of Figure 1 looking inthe direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on line of Figure 2; Figure 4 is asection taken on line 4-4 of Fig- .ure 1;

, nism' FigurelO is a cross section centrally through the pushermechanism of Figure 9;

Figure 11 is a section like Figure 10, showing the pusher forcedinwardly; and

Figure 12 is a perspective view of a coin packet. The vending machinecasing is shown in Figure 1. It is comprised of a front wall I 0, rearwall 1 I and side walls, top and bottom, to define a container for theoperating mechanism and the stack of newspapers to be operated uponthereby.

The opening 12 receives the coin whereby the vending operation iseffected and this coin is returned through opening l3 when the supply ofnewspapers has been exhausted. The relatively larger and horizontallyelongated mouth M which opens into trough l5 permits the removal of anewspaper moved into the trough from a stack upon the insertion of a con and the operation of a mechanism shortly to be described. The casingis shown as provided with the depressed space [6 into which extends theouter end ll of the plunger whose operation can be effected to dischargea newspaper into the trough 15 only after a proper coin has beeninserted in the opening I2.

Upon reference to Figure 2 which shows the interior of the casing asseen from above. it will be observed that the relatively narrow sectionat the right contains the o erating mechanism and the remaining andrelatively wider section contains the newspaper stack, and referencewill no be made to Figure 3 which shows a vertical section through frontand rear walls It and H, wherein is shown platform 28 upon which thenewspapers are stacked flat to form a vertically extending file orstack, the platform being dir ensione l to the dimensions of thenewspapers. This platform is inclined upwardly forwardly, that is in thedirection of the front wall 10, for the reasons that will shortly bepointed out. The platform is elevated above the bottom of the casing toa level which approximates the bottom wall of the depressed space IS inthe front wall I ll of Figure 1, and terminates at its front asubstantial distance short of the front wall ID to leave a substantialspace between it and the front wall, within which space there is theaforementioned trough I5 preferably although not necessarily shaped asshown, my invention contemplating that the mechanism to be described,move the topmost paper from the stack in the direction of the front wallso that it drops into the trough E5 in about the position shown indotted lines of the paper P in Figure 3. This trough opens into themouth or opening l4 whose size is such that the hand can be inserted'thereinto and paper removed from the trough therethrough.

A coin inserted into the opening I 2 in the front wall is passed througha mechanism generally termed a slug rejecter which tests the coin formagnetism, weight, and size characteristics and disposes of it if itfails to meet the requirements in all three respects, in a directionother than for controlling the operation of the machine as hereinafterto be set forth. A coin accepted by the slug rejector is fed therebyinto the stationary conically shaped coin hopper 30 which centers it atits bottom in a manner and for the purposes now to be described. Themember I! which forms the operating end of the plunger and is accessiblefor manual operation from. outside the casing is secured at its innerend to the plunger proper shown on an enlarged scale in Figures 9 and 10of he drawing. This plunger is mountedfor a manual push and pullreciprocation by handle Ill and overlies a fixed platform33-immediatelytherebeneath (see Figure A) and-is provided with a circular opening 34therethrou'ghin which may be received a coin entered through frontopening 5 2 and accepted by theslug rejectorv and passed thereby intothe hopper 30 when the plunger is in its normal and retractedjpositionof Figure 4 wherein opening 34 in the plunger registers with and -isimmediately beneath the bottom discharge mouth of hopper 30.

The platform -33 which-underlies the plunger 32 is provided withasimilarcoin receiving opening 35, however so positioned that itregisters with the opening 34 of the overlying plunger 32 only whentheplunger is atits innermost position of Figure fiat-which positionthecoinis discharged from the plunger coin receiving opening 34 into andthrough the coin dischargeopening 36 in the 7 platform 33- and into-acoin-compartment (not shown).

Upon-reference to Figures 9-and- 10 ofthe drawings it will further beobservedrthat-the plunger 32 is slotted at 38 centrally diametrically ofthe coin receiving opening 34 of the plunger, the slot being directedinwardly that is toward therear of the casing and that theplungeris-also slotted at- 39 to provide an endabu-tment wall 40.-

The coinhopper 30 is secured-to the frame of the machine inanypreferredor desiredmanner as by extension 4! fastened-to wall 42 towhich iss'ecured brackett2 which carries the freely oscillating pintle43 to-whiclr are secured the looking arm M'and the releasing arm 45. Theassembly 43, 44 and =45-form,in efiect, a bell crank lever andfunctionas'will now bepointed out. The'locking-lever 44 projects into the-slot39in the plunger and presents its frontwall-in the path of the plungerabutment-wall from which it is normally spaced a short'distance as isshown in Figure 9. so that this arm 44 which is bias'edcounte-rclockwiseby spring-41 will assume a'posit-ion wherein it will limitthe inwardpush of plunger 32 to the short distance of its spacing from abutmentwall lfl-and prevent: an inward throw of the plunger for" a sunicientdistance tooperatethe mechanism. The releasing arm 45, which is theother-armpf the bell crank; extends into the .diametrical slot 38 topresent its lower'orfreeend in-the path of the coin c which: has beenentered into thecircular'openingM of the plunger. .This end ofrarm -iscurved" on its outer face as shown at dfi and is so positionally relatedin level to thatpf the" coin c that upon-inward movement oftheplungerthecoin willengage this free end 46 and cam-it clockwise" and thus'cause;locking lever 44 to move clockwise and out of the path of the abutment'wall' 40.

It will beobserved' that'theend '46-. of the lever '45 is shown inFigure. lfl-asspaced a less distance fromcoin 0 than is the end of thelever :44 from abutment-wall 40, 50 that the-initial inward movement ofthe plunger will i causethe coin carried forwardlytherewith,-;toengageaand Smove arms 45 and 44 clockwise and the latterout of the path of abutment wall 40 before it can engage the end oflocking arm 44. If, however, there is no coin 0 held in the opening 34of the plunger, the abutment wall 56 will engage the straight end wallof arm 44 and lock the plunger 32 against further inward movement.

At the extreme inner end of the plunger 32 is the downwardly extendingabutment flange 48 which may be of any preferred or desired characterand which is illustrated in the drawings as secured to the lower face ofthe plunger and as projecting rearwardly therebeyond. The full in- -Wardmovement ofthe plunger 32 permitted by 'theipresence-of-a:coin therein,will cause this 15':

abutment wall 48- to engage a roller :9 carried on the outer end of anarm 59 which is fixed to and extends outwardly from the lower end of ashaft or rod:5l mounted in top and bottom bearings 52 and 53 (see Figure4) for free rotation about a vertical axis. .Shaft or rod 5! is providedwith a longitudinallyoutwardly extending key 55.

The assembly now to be described is carried by the shaft or rodf5 Ltofreely gravitate downwardly thereon.- This assembly comprises a member56 shaped as shown in Figure 6 to engage the key 55 so that while. it isfree to slide along the rod, it is held tomove angularly therewith.Flanges 5'! which. extend oppositely. from the key engaging walls 56 and.55 secure the member 56 to a base member 58 in any preferred or-desiredmanner, as by screws. A headed screw-Bl secured to block 58 forms apivot post aboutwhich the block 60 may oscillate about a horizontalaxis. An arm or bar B2is receivedthrough an. opening in the block 6%(see. Figures 4..ande6) with its inner end extending-beyond the blockand engaged by one end of the spiral spring 63, the other end of whichis securedto a pin or-screw. carried by member 56. The major length ofarm or bar 52 extends 64, carrying articlepick-up means, is hollow ortubular to receive therewithin the cylindrically contoured member 66having its outer end 6'! enlargedand extending beyond this hollow end asshownin Figure .6. This enlarged outer end is shown as seating on theouter end wall of this hollow end 64. .-A pin -68 engaged transverselythroughmember 35 extends through slot 59 in the hollow endM. Slot 69extends circumferentially so-that the end member 55, 68 can have alimited oscillation relatively to the bar or arm 52. A spiral springIllabout arm 62 has one end engaged with pin 68 and the other endengaged with member ll, shown as a-screw or threaded post secured to arm62. =Extendingdiametrically through the headed or enlarged end 6'! is apin 12 shown as cylindrical and lockedin adjusted position a by threadedmember M. This pin. 12. terminates in the pointed end 13.

From the description thus far given it will be understood that with acoin in position in the opening inthe plunger32, an inward-push upon thehandle end I! will release the locking lever 44 to-permit a fullinwardthrow of the plunger and that in this throwthe abutment wall 48 (Figure4) will engage the roller 43 and oscillate the shaft or rod 5| to swingthe pointed end-13 of the pin "counterclockwise from its full lineposition of Figure 2 to its dotted line position in that figure and in'so'doing-will movethe topmost newspaper engaged by pointed end 13, fromoff the stack and into the trough l5 (seeFigure 3) The spring 53functions to hold thearm 32 inclined downwardly as shown in Figure 4 andthis, combined with the free downward gravitating movement permitted.the aforementioned assembly, holds the pointed end I3 at the front end61 of arm 62 in contact with the top most newspaper. The assemblyreferred to will act in the manner set forth regardless of the height ofthe stack and as long as a single newspaper remains on platform 2!],because the assembly always floats downward to engage clination of thenewspapers incident to the inclination of the platform Ell will furtherassure the maintenance of the engagement of pin l3 until the paper hasbeen discharged into the trough and also prevent the accidental movementby friction of a second newspaper.

I will here premise that the vending machine herein disclosedcontemplates that the coin to be accepted by the coin rej ector is of alarger denomination than the cost of the paper. I therefore imakeprovision for thereturn of change for the difference. For example,assuming that the only coin acceptable for operating the machine is anickel and the cost of the newspaper is 3, the

apparatus is devised to return 2 in change. This provision comprises thefollowin mechanism: in Figure 4. I show a vertically extending reservoir80 whose relative, position may be as in the sectional showing of Figure2 wherein the reservoir is shown as generally oblong in cross sectionand contoured and dimensioned to receive in vertically stacked relation,fiat packets 8| of the character shown in Figure 12 of the drawing.These packets may comprise only a flat board with a plurality ofcircular openings therein of the size to receive in the particulardisclosure herein, one, two or three pennies. For the broad purl s s O yvention these openings can extend through the packet since the coinswill beheld in each packet because of their stacked relation. As aresult, a packet such as shown in Figure 12 can be employed to returneither 1, 2, or in change.

. The reservoir Bil has the bottom of its front and rear walls 82 and 83cut away as shown in Figure 4 so that the access can be had to thelowermost packet through the bottom of the rear wall to eject thatlowermost packet through the bottom of the front wall. The mechanism forejecting the lowermost packet is shown in Figures 4 and 5 and comprisesa bracket 84 extending upwardly from the innermost end of the plunger 32and therefore movable with the plunger. A horizontally positioned rod 85is secured to the bracket and extends therefrom in the direction of thefront wall of the packet reservoir and carries an ejecting finger 36which is secured to the rod 85 in any preferred or desired manner as bythe sleeve 81 and the threaded securing member 88, so that the posit onof the sleeve 81 can be adjusted along the rod 85. Upon viewing Figure 5wherein the operating plunger is shown as pushed in to its limit, theend of the finger 86 will be on the level with and to the rear of thelowermost packet 8|, it being remembered that this inward push of theoperating plunger has already ejected a paper into the trough as shownin Figure 3. The operator is now required to pull the plunger outwardlyin order to get his change as can be seen by comparing Figure 5 whichshows the initiation of this outward movement with Figure 4 which showsits completion, during which increment of movement, the finger 86 willhave engaged this lowermost packet 8| and moved it to the left in Figure4 and extended slot 65.

depressed space It in which the plunger handle I! projects. It will beunderstood, therefore, that on the inward movement of the plunger 32 anewspaper is deposited in the trough and on the outward movement of thisplunger, the coin packet is deposited in the depressed space I 8.

Figure 5 shows the angular positions of the shaft 5| and of the partscarried thereby including the newspaper engagin arm 62 and the rollercarrying arm 50, when the plunger 32 has been pushed inwardly to movethe topmost newspaper into the trough. I will now explain an arrangementwhereby this shaft 5| and the aforementioned parts carried thereby arereturned to their normal position of Figure 4 upon outward retraction ofthe plunger to expel a coin carrying packet. This arrangement comprisesa spiral spring 92 secured at one end to an inner frame at 93 and withits other end engaged with the outer end 94 of hooked rod 95 receivedand held in the bore of the enlarged portion 96 of rod 5i adjacent its'upper end. This spring 92 oscillates shaft 5iclockwise as the plungeris withdrawn or pulled outwardly, which in turn swings arm 62 from itsdotted line position of Figure 2 to which it has been moved by theinward push of the plunger back to its full line starting position ofthat figure. The extent of this return movement of shaft 5! and arm 62is limited by arm '56 secured to arm 62 somewhat as shown in Figures 4and 6 so that its end 15 will engage the back wall of the frame when arm62 has reached the angular position shown in full lines in Figure 4.

Reference has been made to the limited oscillation permitted pin 53 inthe circumferentially Spring Til biases the pin 68 clockwise as shown inFigure '7 to direct the pointed end 13 of pin 12 forwardly, that is inthe direcinclination of platform 2i! cooperates to this end.

In the return swing of the arm 62 under the impulse of the spring 92,pin 73 will have a wiping engagement with the newspaper which is now ontop Without piercing or scratching it. The wiping engagement will befacilitated by the fact that the member 66 is free to oscillate in slot69 (see Figure 7) My invention contemplates further that the newspaperdischarging operation of the plunger 32 be prevented when there is nonewspaper on the platform upon insertion of a proper coin into frontopening l2. An arrangement to this end is shown in Figures 2, 4, 5 and8. This arrangement comprises a lever I00 comprised of an upper portionwil shown as extending generall horizontal, a lower portion lllll alsoshown as generally horizontal and the intermediate inclined portion [00connecting the two. This lever Hill is mounted to oscillate about ahorizontal pivot (not shown) which is disposed within the slug rejectorcasing, the pivot being located adjacent point wil This oscillation iseffected by member I03 which is carried by and reciprocates with rod 35.Thi member I03 has roller IM at its upper end for free rotation andengaging beneath the intermediate portion 10 when the plunger is fullyretracted. When pivoted lever Hill is in its lowermost position of Fig.4, a coin inserted in the machine passes through the slug rejector (ifit be a good coin) and into hopper 38. This permits plunger l1 and slide32 to be moved manually rearwardly and the paper delivered. When,however, the

enter end-of lever I99 is the elevated position of Figsfi; ashutter'-(not shown) in the slug rejector pauses the coin to bereturned to thecustomer.

Thus, it is necessary to provide means for retaining lever H19 inelevated position after the supply of papers has been exhausted, whichmeans will now be described.

"Theinward' push of the plunger carries with "it the roller I94 to swingmember 199 from its position in Figure 4 to its position in Figure 5"and it will be here stated that in this position of Figure 5 member I90interposes a shutter'into the normal path of the coin to the hopper 39,

todivert thecoin to the discharge opening IS in the" front wall'of themachine and that in its position of Figure 4- this shutter is withdrawnfrom out'of this path, to permit free passage of the cointo the hopper.This shutter element has not lever I06 being biased normally to itsdotted line positions of this figure by the weight of the mem- "ber "I99but held to its full line position in Figure 8 by the weight of anynewspaper or papers present on platform 29. Upon the discharge of thelastpaper from platform 29, this lever E99 will assume its dotted lineposition of Figure 8 to present the member I99 underneath the projectionH0 which is carried by and extends laterally from portion I90 of themember I99 as shown in Figure 2 so that the member I99 will be held inits elevated position of Figure 4 todivert the coin into theaforementioned discharge opening [3.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claimas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A machine for vending flat articles comprising a housing, aframewithin the housing, a rear- 'wardly' and downwardly-inclined supportupon whichthe articles to be vended are supported in superimposedrelation, a trough for receiving the 4 articles as they are delivered,one by one, from the support, and a horizontally-pivoted arm providedwith pick-up means at its outer end for moving gnores-o the uppermost'article in the pile'into' the trough, means for supporting the armcomprising a vertical post'mounted in theframe adjacent one end of theinclined support,- an a'rmsupport slidably mounted on the post for freegravitational movement thereon, the arm being pivotally mounted on thesupport adjacent its inner end, and spring means between the inner endof the arm and the support which urgesthe outer end of the armdownwardly relative to the support.

2. A machine for vending'flat articles comprising a housing, a framewithin the housing, a rearwardly and downwardly-inclined support uponwhich the articles to be ven'ded are supported in superimposed relation,an open trough at the front of the housing for receiving the articles asthey are delivered, one by one, from the support, and ahorizontally-pivoted arm'provided with pick-up means at its outer endfor moving the uppermost article in the pile into' the trough, means forsupporting the armcomprising a vertical post mounted in the frameadjacent one end of the inclined support, anarm support slidably mountedon the post for free gravitational movement thereon, means for keyingthe support to thepost and means for rotating the post-through an arc,the

arm being pivotally mounted on the support adjacent its inner end, andspring means between the inner end of the arm and the support whichurges the outer end ofthe arm downwardly relative to the support.

SAMUEL LESCHIN.

"REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED: STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,525,690 Peterson Feb. 10, 19251,720,588 Cameron July 9, 1929 1,812,232 Berland June 30, 1931 1,817,740Dunn Aug. 4, 1931 1,946,183 Williamson Feb. 6, 1934 2,180,326 TraversyNov. 14, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 106,426 Great Britain-e of 1917

